Product Description

Featuring clear, step-by-step instruction, and now fully revised and updated, this classic guide is the most successful book on ballroom dancing ever published, with 600,000 copies sold worldwide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #276027 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

From the Publisher
Long one of the most popular activities in the world, dancing brings pleasure to millions as well as the benefits of physical and mental relaxation, exercise, and social poise. If you haven't had the opportunity to learn, Victor Silvester's best-selling book provides all you need to know. Featuring dazzling photos of some of the world's greatest dancers, this is a definitive handbook, complete with notes, diagrams, and steps for every dance. The four classics—Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, and Tango—are all covered, as are the standard Latin-American dances—Rumba, Samba, Cha-Cha- Cha, Paso Doble—as well as Jive, Rock ' n' Roll, and Disco dancing. Invaluable for beginners, advanced students, and teachers alike, this classic work shows the way to a world of enjoyment that will last a lifetime.

About the Author
Victor Silvester is the man who put the 'slow, slow, quick, quick, slow' into ballroom dancing. He won the World's Professional Dancing Championship in 1922 and went on to build an unrivalled reputation as a demonstrator and teacher of dance. The recordings that he made, with his famous orchestra, have sold in excess of 75 million. Awarded the OBE for services to Ballroom Dancing, Victor Silvester was also President of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance. He died in 1978.

Customer Reviews

A very solid and entertaining dance guide--One of the best!
I looked high and low for a ballroom dance book that I could recommend to my fellow ballroom dancers at Harvard. Most of the literature tended to be either too simplistic (for novices) or too boring (ISTD manuals). I especially loved the format of the book and the beautiful photographs of competition dancers. The foot patterns and detailed descriptions are helpful for the non-novice dancer. One big plus of this publication is that the author describes Silver & Gold patterns.

International-Style Ballrooom Dancing
This is a pretty good book for anyone who's currently taking lessons in International-style dancing. It goes through all 10 dances used in International Rhythm and Smooth competition. The author presents about 12 or more variations in each dance. There are foot diagrams for about half the variations. He details the footwork (written), contrary body movement, timing, sway and amount of turn. All of the photos are of competitors at a dance event so they're not helpful if you're trying to learn how any figure looks. I don't think it's a book to buy if you're starting to learn how to dance but if you're already taking lessons, it's a good book to reinforce what you're learning. American-style is not covered at all.

A very good buy!
I purchased this book to compliment my dance instruction. Being that I take lessons in Japan, I needed a book, in English, which would reinforce and further explain what was being taught to me in class. I have found it a very useful book. However, this is not a book for a beginning dancer! The explanations and footwork patterns are detailed, but if you have no experience with ballroom dancing, the figures and explanations will mean very little to you.

Some of the more complicated steps do not have foot diagrams, which would have been helpful. All and all, an excellent book!